There is a new generation of college students out there, I would know as I recently was one of them. Information being at your fingertips is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. Professors’ expectations of their students have increased dramatically due to the wealth of information on mobile devices. Every class I attended leveraged some form of wireless access to the web. Instant message in response to real-time questions and online submissions are just two of many examples of how network access has been integrated into the education system. Professors would consistently use online tools such as online drop boxes for projects and web conferencing tools. According to MarketWire 92% of college students feel a laptop is a necessity, this indicates that the requirement of mobile access at a university is a given and the college experience is defined by the ease of that access.

Professors are on tight schedules and are generally available only at certain times of the day. Imagine- wanting to contact a professor during open hours only to fall short because your laptop had difficulty getting any kind of connection. I remember the frustrations of wanting to revisit PowerPoint presentations on a class website in the library, only to realize that I was sitting by the one window notorious for being a wireless dead zone. Dorms were infamous for spotty coverage. Having the dorm room located closest to the access point for best access was purely by luck of the draw. I was not so lucky. In my dorm, you would not get any wireless access unless you were sitting right next to the hallway. That’s why I am especially envious of the students of Colorado University, whose alma mater upgraded to enterprise-class coverage.

After experiencing my first earthquake on the west coast many years ago, there was nothing anyone could do to convince me that an earthquake could be a good thing. However, there is one group that is doing just that. The Tech Museum in San Jose has introduced a simulated quake that is a life-changing platform for children to learn about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Since January, The Tech Challenge has provided 1,400 students with ongoing STEM learning, culminating on Saturday, April 21. The annual team competition introduces the engineering design process to fifth through twelfth graders by solving a real-world problem through hands-on learning. The assignment for this 25th anniversary year – “Shake, Rattle, and Rescue” – asks students to create a solution to help earthquake survivors cross a damaged bridge.

As a part of my job here at Cisco, I have the opportunity to meet with a range of customers in schools, colleges, and universities across the globe. They have the wide and vast responsibility of educating students, preparing the workforce of the future, equipping students with different kinds of skills so that they can compete in the 21st century, ensuring that students are safe and secure, and a whole host of other responsibilities that will enable students to be productive and successful members of society. Most critically, they have to do all this with increasingly constrained, and in developing nations, often non-existent, budgets.

The requirements for education have shifted over time as we have become more globalized, technologically advanced, and demographically different. On average, people in the US change jobs about ten times before they’re 42. In China and India, there is a massive demand for higher education. And teachers are retiring in record numbers as the population of kids under the age of 15 has reached 1.8 billion.

Thomas Friedman has said that students today need to be special, specialized, anchored, or adaptable. Not everyone can be special, and certain components of traditionally anchored jobs (for example, hairdressers, restaurant workers, and trade workers) can be outsourced. This leaves jobs for which people need to be specialized or adaptable. And this is where education is critical: students have to be able to access education that provides them with the specialization required to help them differentiate the value that they provide. Think, tax planning for customers with major offshore assets, or biological technicians who are creating a biosphere in pace. Or, education has to be able to provide them with the ability to obtain lifelong learning programs and capabilities to adapt to a broad range of careers and jobs that they will have over their lifetimes.

Existing systems on their own will no longer be able to meet the growing and changing demands for learning. Educational institutions must necessarily deliver learning differently, and this is where technology can help. Today, Cisco is partnering with educators to create what we call The Learning Society: a new way of thinking that harnesses the power of technology to help transform learning and allow people to learn anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Not only does Cisco offer a change model that integrates “best-of-the-best” research findings to help students flourish in the 21st century – wherever they are and whatever their culture or socio-economic status, or the economic situation of their country, may be (Education 3.0), but it also details the integration of innovative pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment strategies across whole systems—accommodating learner differences, linking learning to the real world, and setting high, yet realistic, expectations for every student. We encourage you to learn more by joining our Virtual Forum for Education Leaders on April 28th.

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